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Ampersand Etcetera - 2001_5
ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental & lowercase &
postclassical & minimal & techno & etcetera
A musing - as I stand here (yep, my portable is on a pedestal formed by my audio
cabinet) I can see five great examples of musical packaging. There is the Muslimgauze
table tennis bat, wonderfully glazed and golden; Aube’s Four Shrines tape
collection, a red and black cross; the metal box designed by M Bentley for the
Archipelago set; and the ‘Playing the Orchestra’ cd box from Sakamoto,
a marvellous cardboard construct and possibly the best single (plus a 3”)
cd package produced by a major (box sets such as Sylvian’s Weatherbox or
Jethro Tull’s 25 years are different matters; as are limited editions by
independents). And there, glowing between them, is Talking Heads’ Remain
in Light, recently arrived from The Edge, and arguably a pinnacle of vinyl packaging:
three printed disks designed by Robert Rauschenberg, clear vinyl disk and clear
box, creating a multicoloured, infinitely changeable delight. Thanks Terry - a
lust item for years, I finally have one (and there hangs a tale: the drop in the
aussie dollar is making overseas purchases as difficult now on my mature salary
as Talking Heads was when it came out from my salary then). And it is as luscious
as I remembered it.
The link? In this issue we look at latest offerings from three of Staalplaat’s
ongoing series which take an interest (even greater than the label always does)
in presentation - Morte aux Vaches, Mulimgauze limited editions and Material.
Plus more, of course!
A couple of websites to look at. Some time back I reviewed Eric M’s metamkine
release (v2.02) - I recently came across his website which includes an album ‘online
edition’ and samples from his Sonoris ‘Zygosis’: varied cut and
paste and concrete material (although it hasn’t been updated for a while).
http://www.ericm.com (He also turns up on a disk below).
And one with a good selection of music and images is meta.am (http://meta.am).
The site has some eyecatching, seizure inducing moving wallpapers (actually quite
subtle in their forthright way, and great) and navigation through ‘sounds’
to ‘tones’, ‘octave’ and ‘rhythm’, then presents
just under 2 hours of music from various musicians across those categories. The
sound is minimal glitchy (octaves, including voice) shifting from rhythmic through
to abstractangular (tones) and all interesting. There are no details on site about
the artists, their objective or plans, and I have received no answers to my email.
So, mysterious but worth listening to.
jeremy@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Massimo
Minimo
STCD145
Thilges3
Polka
STCD151
Staalplaat
http://www.staalplat.com
As promised, 2 more from the Material series (on clear-colour rimmed AB-CDs [20-30+
minutes], clear cases engraved with all the information, some sort of material
instead of card inserts) where Staalplaat is giving glitchy, microwave, minimal
artists a fabulously produced opportunity to strut their stuff. (See Goem, Mens,
Inada in the archives).
Massimo provides a ‘traditional’ minimal Material experience - twenty
tracks in 28 minutes created “on a L 7300 notebook pc”. The material
here is a shiny-gold card with a wave pattern, and the disk is brown too. This
is an exciting collection which shifts too rapidly to do more than give an impression
of what’s going on. This is one of the rhythmic-noise side of the glitch
experience: dragged from somewhere in his computer system Massimo combines a broad
range of noises: clicks, chitters, shudders, almost percussion, sine tones, bleeps,
white noise bursts, squarls and machine grinding. He then layers and loops these
to rhythmic explorations of sounds. Often there is a basic layers with a regular
beat, and then more abstract sounds dart and play over the surface. On the whole
they are not too offensive, but one or two tracks have some nice forceful, high
pitched surprises. A disk like this is hard to have favourite tracks or to work
through descriptively, but a couple of comments: 15 demonstrates very nicely the
layering of different rhythms to create the beaty ‘musical’ whole; for
some reason there is an actual voice sample at the start of 4; 6 is fast and furious
and followed by the deep resonance of 7 (my speakers are shaking); 13 features
some lovely squelches that drift gently from right to left; echoed by the shimmer
whirs and ambience of 16. As I said exciting and also very approachable, listenable
and move-able to - and there is variety aplenty in both density and rhythm. This
ain’t music but it sure is fun.
After which Thilges3 is an interesting change in direction - one 30+ minute track,
white polystyrene sheet inserts and a white/clear disk. And while it perhaps aspires
to the condition of music more than the others, it does break down into various
‘parts’. It opens with a drifting synth based mood piece - based on
an echoed melodic fragment, with a squashed synth riff, some percussion and clicksquirls
which shimmer across, drifting through its 15 minutes with a dreamy, almost TwinPeaks
subtle yet threatening ambience. Rather beautiful. The subsequent 5 minutes is
a bloopyclicking doodle period, rather aimless but nevertheless captivating and
a good change in focus. Another shift, and we spend some time on an electrowind
swept plain, featureless except for some passing clicks and a sombre gravitas.
Which quickly fades as the ‘title’ segment worms its way in: a gay tecnoish
swirls of rhythms, clicks and pulses, it dances us to the end of the piece, where
a gentle drip, distant whistling and insect songs provide gentle release. ‘Polka’
is apparently Thilges3’s first studio recording (one of their live 3”
disks was reviewed in v3.5) and it is a very engaging piece which shifts gear
subtly and smoothly.
Two very different pieces of the series, but demonstrating once again Staalplaat’s
ability to attract interesting, entertaining yet serious works. (In the pipeline
- hopefully for 2001_06 - is a Pimmon release, and I may take the opportunity
to do a sort of overview of his stuff).
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Various Artists
Mottomo Otomo - Unlimited XIII
Trost TRO76
http://www.trost.at
Music Unlimited is an annual festival in Wels, Austria, and in 1999 it was curated
by Otomo Yoshihide - this disk represents a sampling of some of the acts, to be
joined later in the year by a recording of the chamber piece ‘Mira ni naru
made’ which closed the event. And what a varied compilation!
Yoshihide opens with a solo turntable piece, moody and brooding with banging and
a humming metallic backdrop for tones, thuds and scratches before a great turn
from Radian. They play their fascinating brand of glitch - buzzes, clicks and
burrs over live drums (see v3.02 for their album review). Then the Incapacitants
incapacitate us with a guitar feedback/white noise noise extravaganza.
A combination of Kaffe Matthews, Andrea Neuman and Annette Krebs provides a live
rather gentle electroacoustic piece a buzzes, percussion, manipulation, noise
bursts, contact mikes and effects which is paired with Martin Tetreault and Dianne
Labrosse which starts as a percussive solo, then appears to continue on a piano
(the percussion is probably the piano) clatteringly (it may even be blocks of
wood thrown at the piano), before flute, grunting and blowing join, then fade
in a drone. A melodic interlude is provided by Nagata Kazunao with a Arp solo
with something approaching a tune and buzzing drones dragged from the machine.
A 6-person group the launches into a psychedelic-garage rock song - starting with
a guitar assault and drums, it moves into vocal over simpler instrumentation,
with a verse/chorus structure before launching into a big climax: dramatic and
exciting. And to provide another pairing, the next track is a subtle and retrained
guitar improvisation combined bowed drones, picking and scratching from Keith
Rowe (2001_1 and 4), Sugimoto Taku and Yoshihide. More electroacoustic with the
gentle building electronica piece by Poirez (Voice Crack joined by Erik M and
Gunter Muller).
Lyricism opens OY’s New Jazz Quintet (their first gig) with a tender sax
and guitar duet, before various members join for a pointilist collage of individual
notes which combine to give a coloured palette. A fascinating highlight with Hoahio,
a female threepiece, which starts with a simple picked melody on something harp-like.
The ancient glissandos are joined by some gathering electronica colouring which
grows until the two form a kaleidoscopic swirl as they joust, joined by a Patti
Smith like voice singing a mixture of Japanese and English. The longest piece
and worth it, and followed by a noisey Otomo solo to conclude the sample. An incredibly
varied set, many pieces obviously sections of larger works. The contrasts may
dissaude some buyers, but if you are interested in hearing a range of European
and Japanese new musics, well worth looking for.In his notes Otomo considers a
new stream of music ‘emerging … at the moment. In contrast to new kinds
of music it will not be easily recognised at first sight. It is the hard work
of radically considering the very nature of music, of listening and performing’.
This new direction, built on old ways, seems to inform much of the material coming
through at Ampersand, reflected also in the notes to a Ritornell compilation ‘Modlues
are able to operate as separate functions or as interdependent units to form a
complex structure. In post-digital music the modules are typically strung together
in order to convey a process or narrative form. There is no classical structure
or overarching narrative form …’ (Kim Cascone: from a glitched version
of his essay, but reading true). No neat conclusions, but these comments do touch
a chord with us. So onward into the newmusics.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Muslimgauze
(selftitled)
Staalplaat Muslimlim028
http://www.staalplat.com
http://www.pretentious.net/muslimgauze
But before re-joining the new, we pass through another chapter of a different
book (we do sometimes try and put a narrative flow to these reviews). A new release
in the Mulimgauze limited series, this one is a simpler production - a standard
jewel case with redthemed pictures of a village, only Bryn Jones’ handwritten
‘Muslimgauze’ across the front. No details about the recording, just
the music. And I would have liked more details as this is, to be honest, somewhat
disappointing.
In a lighter moment I once drafted a review about a Muslimgauze limited edition
called ‘The Sound of Music’. This was a tape found in the back of Bryn
Jones’ cupboard, the title scrawled on it. It turned out to be a copy he
had made of that soundtrack - the conceit was (thanks to Borges and Menard) that
by listening to the vinyl surface chatter and the decisions he had made not to
alter the recording, we reheard the soundtrack through his ears. Well, the opener
‘Majik hands of abdul qadir’ reminded me of that imaginary disk. It
sounds almost like a Hindi pop song with female vocal, sitar, birds singing and
tabla which has been replayed through a dodgy system: there is a surface inteference
humm, passages where a connection becomes loose and some tracks disappear, bursts
of static. It fades right away at one stage before returning for another couple
of minutes of parts reappearing briefly before fading again. Some typical Muslimgauze
playfulness.
The next few tracks follow a similar line, though less fitful. The drums are everpresent
and there are quite a few vocal lines. Everpresent is distortion surface buzz
which pulses with some elements, but it is hard to tell if it is a conscious addition
or a fault, or serendipity which was incorporated (or at least not removed). Drums
are distorted and played with, and the pieces are beaty and enjoyable, with more
pulsing affects, but they don’t add much to the Muslimgauze oeuvre. Some
highlights are the sitar of ‘Imam Ali’, a lovely bass/tabla duet on
‘Mumbai dook’ with distant voices, ‘Youssif gujarti’ where
voice fragments singing a fast scat song to drums and flute, a more aggressive
industrial feel to ‘Bandar abbas’ and the delicate vocal line in ‘Madras
carpet boy’ which I am sure we’ve heard before.
With ‘Namiki an wadda’ things take a more interesting turn - this is
a more ambient piece where the buzzing has been used to provide the main rhythm
which entwines a rubbery solo drum, a looped vocal and simple harmonium. A subtle
and beautiful piece, where the elements work together. The long ‘Three papermache
efiji of Bishan Bedi’ starts life as a typical track from this album: tabla,
buzz and distorted vocal. It shifts slightly a minute in, becoming a flowing beaty
piece, then shifts rapidly at four minutes as a harmonium enetrs, the drums drop
out, there is a pause, and then another hindi pop-duet, treated somewhat like
the opener. The voices, drums, bell are chopped, drop out, fade and distorted,
or joined by the chorus. This time it seems to work better - as the track progresses
the vocals gradually fade-distort into the background and the messed around drums
win the foreground before a buzz-looped fade before a final dying voice. ‘Knot
on this jasmine rug’ and ‘.V.H.F tamil tigers’ return to the more
familiar drum and distortion, though there is some effective edgy harsh synth
on the final track, which take the album out in almost noise.
I don’t think my Muslimgauze ear is jaded, but this is the least positive
review I have done. It is not a bad album, just doesn’t seem up to scratch
to me, especially with the humm: which is why I would have liked a bit more info
about its origin - was it a final version, a draft or whatever. It is definitely
an appropriate Muslimlim (where ‘Bagdhad’ for example could have been
a mainstream release). There are enough highlights for the fan or the more interested
listener, but not a starting point. (See bulk backissues for other reviews).
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Lionel Marchetti and Jerome Noetinger
Morte aux Vaches
Staalplaat (no number)
http://www.staalplat.com
Dieb13
Restructuring (musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst 99)
Charhizma/ORF ORFCD260
http://www.charhizma.com
First, another Staalplaat series - Morte aux Vaches releases shows from VPRO Radio
5 ‘De Avonden’ )also reviewed across the years - Ikeda, Muslimgauze,
Goem, Senssurround orchestra, Main et al, Origami & Nocturnal Emissions),
either live at the radio or commissioned studio recordings.
There are some recordings that you have to be in the mood for - usually the more
assertive, confronting or edgy. This is one of those. Marchetti and Noetinger
play ‘microphones, speakers and electronics’ and seem to improvise the
30+ minutes of this piece, which is divided into four tracks plus a very short
coda. Their methodology seems to be to set up situations with their electronica
and then play with them whence they go. It opens with a descending tone emerging
out of silence, then a background of machine hums and clicks, over which various
devices ply: a tuning radio, feedback screams, slight tweaks and swirls, puttering
- each having a turn, fading and returning in and out of randomness. Moments emerge
as highlights, the background becomes a foregrounded airwaves search. Into a moody
drone for track 2, the radio picks up voices, in addition to the nighttime whips
and trails: restraint, a quest, scratchy strains - almost shipboard in a dark
mist, the rigging stretched, gulls sqwarking, night noises. In the second half
a thickening layer of sounds that could be voices underneath a bumping clutter,
rising and falling into a fade.
Whirrs of motors, microphone scratching and distant tones that get closer and
louder in the short 3, ending with playing tones singing and crying like voices
which carry into 4, joined by a loud buzz. And here we get into the loud, angular
aggresive play of tone against feedback, throb against whistle. Exciting and dynamic,
but not for the faint hearted! Things become more restrained in the second half,
where there is even a piano melody over a sustained tone, joined by squeaks, before
a sqwirly exit and fade. 5 is ten seconds of silence. Shifting and changing, this
is a strong piece which demands attention, and when you are in the mood, repays
it. The cover (folded card, held by a clip, the standard Morte [other than the
modern plastic Ikeda]) is a modernist collage of film-sprockets, a reference to
Noetinger’s role in Metamkine.
Dieb13 is a turntablist and these two tracks were recorded live - one at the Musicprotocol
in Graz, 1999, and the second in a studio a year later, using vinyl from concerts
played by other artists at the festival. And this disk is ‘open content’
so it itself is available for restructuring (the English translation refers to
‘the artwork’ - a limited translation of ‘die musikstuecke’
I would imagine as it suggests just the cover art).
I initially listened to the first track ‘Formlos’ while cooking (yes,
I must admit I don’t sit listening intensely, but play the music in a range
of environments including work, the car and on my walkman in cafes) and was surprised
by the range of sounds a turntablist can produce, and shifted my expectations
away from the DJ - only a segment near the end contained rhythmic and vocal sections
recognisably recorded. Elsewise an impressive range of sounds were extracted:
noise, chunks of rhythmic condensations, scifi sqwirls and wooshes, pops, runoff
white noise, snatches of possible music, tones and wails. At that stage I hadn’t
noticed the title, but a translation as ‘Formless’ would fit: there
seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the shifts and changes. The whole was interesting
as a background to my activity, or as an intellectual pursuit. A closer listen
(yes, all do get that to) clarified the basic approach: a ‘rhythm’ loop
was set up on one turntable, and the other/s used to play around over that. Some
rhythms were obvious vinyl fragments, sometimes just the vinyl and some effects:
in one section with a fast pulse which drops suddenly as the table speed is reduced.
There is a constant feeling of ‘I wish I was there’ as you try and work
out how some sound was produced.
The second track ‘Restructuring’ is more musical and more considered:
while the turntabled whirs and tones are still present, they vie with other artists
from the festival including (what sound like) a string quartet, piano-based jazz
trio, clarinet, a noise group and some singing. These elements are of course sampled,
looped and cracked, but provide a more stable basis and recurring elements. Shifts
and changes are less extreme and more paced, and the whole has a more relaxed
mood, though still exploratory and energised. The two pieces provide a virtuosi
demonstration of the art, intriguing and surprising.
Initially these two reviews were separate, but as I listened to the disks it was
obvious they should be adjacent, and then combined, as they have much in common.
They are live, electroacoustic works whose authors are interested in sounds and
their manipulation rather than rhythm&melody; they have a basis in chaos -
you can’t set your dials and adjust them exactly the same each time, nor
set the needle down precisely - and the development takes off from that; they
have a restless energy as they shift focus, pursuing different emergent sounds;
and finally, they are somewhat ‘intellectual’ in that you have to be
interested in the same sonic research. If you are they are quite fascinating,
either to follow the method or let them create an environment in flux.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Antenne
#1
Here to go
Korm Plastics kp3002 & 3004
http://www.staalplat.com
Korm Plastics continue their decision to keep the main label for mainstreamable
releases and cd-rs for the more confronting (?) and follows Tone Languages ‘Patience
is the Key’ (v3.4) with Antenne. Here we have a ‘pop’ album and
an AB-cd of remixes. Antenne is Kim Hansen, a Danish musician who has been in
various groups over the last decade or so: here he writes and plays everything,
with some vocal assistance from Marie-louise Munch (plus additional guitar or
drums on 4 tracks).
Think ethereal pop - Ellen Foley, Julie Cruise and Twin Peaks, Portishead, some
Bjork - and you’ll be on the right track. Minimal backing, usually layers
of percussion, simple guitar or keyboards and a covering of abstract electronica,
and then the soft spoken-sung, high, verging on the unemotionally cool vocals
(on most tracks) and you have the appealing basis for the project. The opening
track ‘Here to go’ lays down the model: a loop which is either brushed-drums
or guitar-strums, rolling squirl and drone which all run through, a simple guitar
picked melody and then the vocal. A break with a shimmering synth, then return
to the vocal, moving through to late entering keyboards and a long fade. But while
this model is put to use, it is played with in dramatic and enticing ways.
In ‘Like rain’ samples of Marie-lousie are looped to form a dense choir,
a big tone enters, complex drum loop increasing the pace, and then the song. The
loops continue as a deep rhythm, and a steel guitar plays in the break. ‘Whispering’
has a simple echoed guitar over a pitterpatter drum set, while ‘Moving slow’
is very bright and fast, changing the mood, with a more complex mix - there are
voices deep down, guitars and choppy rotors. Simplicity returns with ‘Something
not to do’ where the melody and rhythm are carried mainly by bursting synths
and longer tones.
Sequenced between these songs are three instrumentals. The third track is ‘Let
me ride’ a dark, beated ambience with synths and dark winds, shifting into
some spacey periods, drums entering about halfway and abstract scratches. ‘PPS
hold prog’ is a gentle drifting piece, while ‘Memo’ closes the
album with bleeping synths and a tonal wind. These are strong pieces that offset
the vocal ones.
Sonically this album almost begs to be remixed - the production and layering offer
ample material and directions. The remixes of ‘Here to go’ are by a
some possibly well known names in the alternative scene - Zammuto I know from
his demo (see v1.10 ) and Tone Language from his Korm disk. The original leads
off with a radio version - demonstrating both the power of Antenne and the excellence
of this song for a remix - and incorporating some subtle tonal changes. Stephen
Mathieu (Full Swing) produces ‘Going nowhere’ a pulsing ambient interpretation,
with dark loops of rhythm, buzzes and snatches of drum. The organ shimmers and
the vocal is a memory of voice tones. The ‘True to life mix’ of Zammuto
is tense and edgy - little fast rhythms, breath-like growls under a picked out
melody and pulsing organ. The vocal is present, lightly processed but with a halo
of distortion.
Acclera Deck moves further away in a ‘Jaz driven cataract mix’ which
is choppy, composed from short loops of the original, while Metamatics’ ‘Voice
mail’ comes closest with simple drum and keyboard and repeated vocal phrases,
and a developing strong rhythm. And we leave with a spacey, disjointed beaty ‘Geiom’
mix. The five versions vary quite distinctly and give the whole ep the range which
is essential if remixes are going to be viable - it is not like listening to slight
differences, but rather individual pieces that have some common ground.
In an ideal world Korm Plastics would have a big hit with this album - the songs
have enough hook and mystery to gain airplay, and they have the makings of some
great remixes. ‘Moving slow’ would make a good second single to take
their public further into their mysterious, seductive soundworld. But it isn’t
a perfect place, though there is room in its furthest corners for albums like
this to offer a balance and diversion from some of the harder things we listen
to. No, it isn’t soft, but less demanding and more embracing. Something you
can play for yourself to hear the sonic subleties, or play to other people who
want music.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Scratch Pet Land
Solo soli iiiii
Sonig sonig17
http://www.sonig.com
The brothers Badoux have created this collection of home grown naive pieces for
our delight. 16 tracks span 40 minutes, and so the emphasis is on short excursions.
Using simple keyboards, drums, guitar, percussion and some electronica they craft
shifting lyrical pieces and playful bonbons.
While not exactly disposable or thrown off, the set has an air of naive exuberance.
Not an album for trawling through all the tracks, a few will demonstrate the mood
and method. ‘Badoux baba’ builds from a synth tune with some electroblurts
and guitar, a noise interlude and then a fast set of rhythm loops are added giving
a gathering melodic density before a long buzz fade: probaly the most complex
track on the album. The opener ‘Mr mime’ set the pace: the first half
is blippy noises and gongs which shifts into a synth and guitar melody, or ‘Big
grey ear’ with a plipplop rhythm, harp(?) melody and bottle, enjoined by
a clattering machine and then guitar and pulse. ‘Ki.,er’ is complex,
atonal and chaotic while ‘(no$)’ is playful and melodic, while ‘N
no’ ends with a gated squarly madness after some woodblock percussion. I
could even stomach (just) the child(ish) hiccups on ‘Mika hik drum kit (version
3)’ because of the surrounding melody, birdsounds and deeptoned whirly end.
Throughout uncomplicated percussive rhythms, synths, bloops and blips, captured
noises, guitar, tones are used to create a wildwide range of surprisingly complex
pieces, sometimes relying on exuberance to pull them through - which it does.
After listening to this I found myself singing ‘Hear come the warm jets’,
or at least the melody line, not because of any really close similarity in sound,
but rather the shared mood it captures. An album which I enjoyed.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
And of course, all past issues, with hundreds of reviews, on site.
Copyright for these reviews remains with me, Jeremy Keens. Artists and labels
are free to use and quote them as long as they acknowledge Ampersand and don’t
mess with my words! And if anyone else happens to mention one of these reviews,
do pass on the web address or my email address so new readers can find me. Thanks.
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